REPORT: Anti-government protests increase in Israel following Gaza war

   
The calm which the Israeli Prime Minister claimed that the "Pillar of Cloud" operation would achieve turned against him and his ministers, leading protests, criticism and disappointment to rise on many levels.               

On the southern borders with Gaza, the region remains on alert for fear of non-compliance with the agreement, where the reserve troops who started returning to their homes, began protesting. This fact prompted the IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz to visit the units in order to calm the troops.              

On the political level, Netanyahu found himself under a "pressuring international and Israeli umbrella" aiming at making the first lesson from the ceasefire agreement be changing the "rules of the game" played with the president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and implementing political reforms.                 

In Israel, the pressures came from the President Shimon Peres and the opposition leadership who consider that the negotiations with "Abou Mazen" is an easy deal after negotiating with Hamas which Israel considers as a terrorist movement.                      

On the popular level, the "euphoria" felt by Netanyahu on the first days of the operation increased, raising the rate of his supporters to 84%. This rate decreased to 43% after the signature of the ceasefire agreement.                      

On the other hand, the right wing which supported Netanyahu's operation, staged protests that turned into a strong weapon in the hands of the rival parties in the elections. These parties once supported the operation, but are now taking advantage of its results to face Benjamin Netanyahu.


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